Early Review – A Complement of Scoundrels by S.V. Lockwood (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 456 pages
Publisher: Bindery Books
Release Date: September 22, 2026
ASIN: B0GHZKF6QZ
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley for review from NetGalley
Rating: 4/5 stars

“There are many ways to bring down the man who betrayed you—and Myria Cadessa has thought of them all.

Cracking the Elysius Vault should’ve made Myria the richest thief in all Carintheum. Instead, it shattered her crew and left her rotting in jail while her double-crossing master walked away with everything that should’ve been hers.

But now she’s out, and it’s time to settle the score. Reunite her crew? A pleasure. Steal back everything her erstwhile leader took? And then some. She’ll just need to trick the king of all tricksters, with the law on her heels, and a troublesome new ally whose loyalties seem as conflicted as his feelings for Myria. It’s the most audacious heist she’s ever attempted, but she failed her crew once. This time, she’ll make it right—at any cost.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got this on ebook to review through NetGalley.

Thoughts: This story started out a bit rough but ended up picking up pace and started to really hold my interest at about 25% in. This is a well done revenge story that has an intriguing cast of characters and is set in an interesting world.

Myria and her team have been given a task to rob the Elysius Vault and then everything goes wrong. Myria finds herself in a light security prison for three years in exchange for her silence. However, once she gets out she is bound and determined to make the person who betrayed her pay. Unfortunately, she didn’t account for an officer being charged with helping her to “blend” back into society. Myria is trying to run her schemes, reform her crew, and dodge an inquisitive (and very helpful) lawman.

This starts out rough. We are very quickly introduced to multiple characters, who then all end up missing or dead…I mean very quickly…like in the first chapter. It left my head spinning a bit and left me wondering why all these people had been introduced and then quickly removed from the story. It does make sense in the end, but it would have been nice to have more time to get to know all these characters before they are taken out of the story. It left me feeling like, okay why am I supposed to care what happens to all these thieves?

The story alternates POV between the officer, Felix, and Myria. I enjoyed both POVs. This is a pretty straight-forward revenge story but also weaves in some other unique elements. Felix has shattered his magic and desperately wants it working again. Myria doesn’t have magic which is odd in this world. This is an intriguing world of magic and has a bit of a steampunk feel to it as well. While the world wasn’t laid out in a lot of detail, it has a lot of potential.

I kind of felt the same way about the characters as I did about the world. The side characters are all very interesting people in their own right, unfortunately we never get to learn much about them and they come across as lacking depth because of this. I would have liked time to get to know all of these characters (including Myria and Felix) better.

I appreciate how the author made this into a stand alone fantasy. I also greatly appreciate that this didn’t devolve into a romantasy; there is very little to no romance in this book. However, I can’t help but feel this could have made an even better duology or trilogy. I would have loved more time to delve into this intriguing world and get to know these fascinating characters.

This was well written, easy to read, and fast paced. It just felt a bit rushed and not as detailed as it could have been. I did enjoy the way things wrapped up, but again it felt rushed.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I am happy to have read this, it was entertaining and presents the reader with an intriguing world and fascinating characters. I believe this is Lockwood’s debut novel and it is well done. My main complaints are that I wanted to know more about this world and I wanted to get to know these characters better. I hope Lockwood writes more books set in this world and possibly features some of the side characters in new stories. I would recommend if you enjoy revenge fantasy and like intriging magical worlds.